Haymarket takes advantage of errors in victory

"Walks, errors and hit batters; we're just making too many mistakes," Front Royal coach Joe Scarano said. "It's very difficult to win games against the kinds of teams we play in the Valley League when you're doing things like that. We do exciting things every night. We're just not putting together a complete game of consistent, fundamental baseball."

With the score tied 1-1 heading into the third inning, the Cardinals (6-8) walked two Senators, and hit one to begin the inning. That loaded the bases with no outs, and a sacrifice fly by Tom LaStella, and a pair of hits by Michael Demma and Andrew Lawrence gave Haymarket (7-5) a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the third.

The Senators added another two runs in the fourth to pull ahead 6-1. Demma was the most productive hitter for Haymarket, going 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs.

Front Royal fought back, and was able to narrow the Senators lead to 6-4 by the end of the game. Dan Evatt clubbed a two-run homer over the left-field wall in the fifth, and Steve McQuail smashed a solo homer in the seventh. McQuail's homer looked like the spark the Cardinals needed to get the lead, but Senator reliever Jack Leathersich struck out Brando Brewer with two Cardinals on base to end the threat with Front Royal still trailing 6-4.

Leathersich got the win, pitching 2 1/3 flawless innings. He struck out six of the seven batters he faced to shut down any hope the Cardinals had for a late-inning comeback.

Cardinals starter Ross Speed took the loss, allowing six runs on five hits through four innings on the mound. He struck out two and walked four.

"As a coach I need to find a way to get this team playing fundamental baseball," Sacrano said "We've got a very talented team, but we're just not playing fundamental baseball right now."